How to can your own homemade canned pickled garlic (complete directions with photos)

How to Make Homemade Canned Pickled Garlic

Garlic can be tough to safely can at home. Are you looking for a safe, reliable
and easy recipe to make and can your own pickled garlic? Here it is, a
university and USDA tested recipe, which also appears in the Ball Blue Book.
You can do it with basic equipment already in your kitchen - you just need a
canning pot. And thanks to the vinegar in pickled garlic, you can use
either a plain open water bath pot or a pressure canner (which will also let you
can low acid vegetables!)

Pickling mellows garlic's pungent bite, creating a unique bite-sized burst of
flavor to accent a variety of dishes. Toss pickled garlic into Italian spaghetti
sauce, serve it in sandwiches, use as an antipasto or a garnish for salads. Or
just eat it as a tasty appetizer, with the side benefit of warding off vampires,
werewolves, friends, neighbors, girlfriends, boyfriends, spouses, partners and
significant "others". But the dog will still hang with you...

I haven't got many photos for this recipe yet, but I'll work on that soon!

Prepared this way, the jars have a shelf life of about 12 months, and aside
from storing in a cool, dark place, require no special attention.

Directions for Making Canned Pickled Garlic

Step 1 - Selecting the garlic

The most important step! You need garlic that are FRESH and crisp.
Remove and discard any soft, diseased, spotted and chewed up garlic.

How much garlic and where to get it

You can grow your own, pick your own, or buy them at the grocery store.
If you want to make larger quantities, then about 12 pounds of garlic is
typically makes about 5 quarts or 10 pints of pickled garlic. I wouldn't
use canned garlic; what's the point: Most of the flavor is gone from
them, and you can always get fresh garlic.

Step 2 - Prepare the jars and canner

Wash
the jars and lids

This is a good time to get the jars ready! The dishwasher is fine for
the jars; especially if it has a "sanitize" cycle. Otherwise put the jars
in boiling water for 10 minutes. I just put the lids in a small pot of
almost boiling water for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand"
(available from target, other big box stores, and often grocery stores;
and available online - see this page) to pull them out.

Get the canner heating up

Rinse out your canner, put the rack in the bottom, and fill it
with hot tap water. (Of course, follow the instruction that came with
the canner, if they are different). Put it on the stove over low heat
just to get it heating up for later on.

Step 3 -Rinse the garlic!

Remove the tough outer leaves. I'm sure you can figure out
how to wash the garlic in plain cold or lukewarm water using your hands.
Now see if you can wash the smell off your hands. Good luck in that.

Step 6 - Add the peeled garlic

Step 7 - Pack the jars with garlic

Pack garlic into a hot jar to within 3/4 inch (2 cm) of top rim.

Step 8 - Fill with pickling solution and put the lids and rings on

Add the pickling solution solution (that they were cooked in) to cover garlic
to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of top rim (headspace). Using a nonmetallic utensil,
remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Put the lids on and do
not overtighten. Place jar in canner; repeat for remaining garlic and hot
liquid.

Step 9 - Put the jars in the canner and the lid on the canner

Using
the jar tongs, put the jars on the rack in the canner. Make sure
the tops of the jars are covered by at least 1 inch of water.

Step 10
- Process for 35 minutes

At altitudes up to 1000 ft (305 m), process the filled jars for 35
minutes. Start timing when the water returns to a full boil. When processing
time is complete, turn heat off and remove canner lid. When boil subsides -
bubbles no longer rise to surface (3 to 5 minutes) - remove jars without
tilting. Cool jars upright, undisturbed 24 hours. DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw
bands.

Note: This recipe was specially formulated to allow home canners to preserve
a low acid food - garlic - in commonly available boiling water canners. Do not
deviate from the recipe ingredients, quantities, jar size and processing method
and time. Any change could affect the safety of the end product.

The chart below will help you determine the right processing time and
pressure, if you have a different type of canner, or are above sea level. For
most people, using a plain open water bath canner, the time will be 35 minutes.
The Ball Blue book has a similar recipe that uses only 10 minutes, but I'll
stick with the USDA's recommendation of 35 minutes for safety. You can use
either a plain water bath canner OR a pressure canner, since the vinegar adds so
much acidity.

Step 11 - Remove the jars

Lift the jars out of the water and let them cool on a wooden cutting
board or a towel, without touching or bumping them in a draft-free
place (usually takes overnight), here they won't be bumped. You can then
remove the rings if you like, but if you leave them on, at least loosen
them quite a bit, so they don't rust in place due to trapped moisture.
Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying
that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently,
with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound),
it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you
can still use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar,
then that's a bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them
(with a new lid) and the full time in the canner, it's usually ok.
You're done!

Other Equipment:

From left to right:

Jar lifting tongs to pick up hot jars

Lid lifter - to remove lids from the pot of boiling
water (sterilizing )

Lid - disposable - you may only use them once

Ring - holds the lids on the jar until after the jars
cool - then you don't need them

"Pressure canning is the only safe method for home canning
vegetables. Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium that
causes botulism food poisoning in low-acid foods, such as
vegetables. The bacterial spores are destroyed only when the
vegetables are processed in a pressure canner at 240 degrees
Fahrenheit (F) for the correct amount of time.

Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium commonly found
in vegetables and meats. It is harmless until it finds itself in
a moist, low-acid, oxygen-free environment or a partial vacuum.
Under these conditions, the bacterium can grow and produce
toxins dangerous to people and animals.

Do not process (low acid) vegetables using the boiling
water bath because the botulinum bacteria can survive that
method.

And Clemson University provides these questions and answers:

Can fruits and vegetables be canned without heating if aspirin is
used? No. Aspirin should not be used in canning. It cannot be
relied on to prevent spoilage or to give satisfactory products.
Adequate heat treatment is the only safe procedure.

Is it safe to can garlic in a boiling water bath if vinegar is
used? No. Recommended processing methods must be used to assure
safety. Recommended processing times cannot be shortened if vinegar
is used in canning fresh vegetables. (This does not refer to pickled
vegetables.)

Salt and sugar are not preservatives for vegetables: they are added to
stabilize and improve flavor, but will not prevent spoilage.

Using Aspirin for Canning

Several years ago, a recipe circulated using aspirin to acidify
tomatoes and garlic for canning. Aspirin is not recommended for canning.
While it contains salicylic acid, it does not sufficiently acidify
tomatoes or garlic for safe hot water bath canning. garlic are low acid
foods and may only be processed safely in a pressure canner. Lemon juice
or vinegar is recommended to acidify tomato products for safe water bath
processing.

Think of it like smoking. We all know someone who
smoke their entire life and lived to be 90. But the cemeteries are
filled with the vast majority who didn't. You'll hear people say "my
grandmother did it that way for 20 years". But of course, the people
who died from food poisoning aren't around and often didn't have descendants
to tell their tale...

Washington
State University's County Extension Service Recipe for Pickled
Garlic:

This page was updated on

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